About Heartmath

Background

HeartMath is a system of practical techniques and biofeedback technology which enables the user to reduce stress in the moment, achieve higher levels of performance and build resilience to challenge and future stress. It has been used successfully by thousands of individuals as well as a wide range of businesses, sports, educational and health care organisations.

The HeartMath system is grounded in 20 years of psychophysiological, neurocardiological and biophysical research conducted by the Institute of HeartMath in Boulder Creek, California.These findings support, and are supported by, hundreds of other studies across the fields of neurology, cardiology, psychology, medicine, education and physics.

The core of HeartMath's research has focussed upon interactions between the heart and brain and the mental and physical benefits of positive emotions.

How does it work?

HeartMath is based on learning ways to intentionally manage the electromagnetic communication between our heart and our brain so that we can manage the pressure and stress we all experience. This is achieved by creating "coherence" in our Heart Rate Variability (HRV). HRV is the beat to beat changes in our heart's rhythm. It is one of the few automatic bodily functions that we have the potential to control intentionally.

Research has revealed that when we experience stress and negative emotions our HRV becomes chaotic. This chaotic activity reinforces the stress reaction. However, when we regulate breathing and experience positive emotions our HRV becomes coherent and the stress reaction is stopped. In the diagram below, the top image shows an HRV trace for someone who was experiencing frustration with a task. As you can see, it is chaotic. The second image shows an HRV trace for the same person after they initiated and sustained a state of appreciation. As you can see, it is smooth and coherent.

We teach "coherence" by offering training sessions in which people can learn to use the HeartMath techniques and the HRV feedback technology to see how they are doing in real-time. Using the HeartMath system regularly creates the ability to initiate and sustain coherence at will and thereby reduce stress and anxiety and enter into high performance states.

The training introduces individuals to two main feedback technology products:

A computer based software programme and USB sensor called the emwave Desktop which individuals can use to observe and track their own HRV and the quality of communication signal they are able to send from their heart to their brains. This uses an ear or finger sensor and there are a range of fun games and exercises to help you learn how to do the techniques and to practice getting better at them. Training and practice information can be saved.

A mobile hand held device the emwave PSR (Personal Stress Reliever) which has an HRV sensor and feedback display to assist practice whilst away from your computer.

What does HeartMath actually do?

Learning the HeartMath system enables an individual to take greater control of their reactions to stress and increase their ability to perform to their highest potential. The techniques can stop the fight/flight/freeze stress response, improve the function of the brain's higher centres (cortical facilitation) and increase mental and physical wellbeing. With sustained use, HeartMath can help people to stay healthy in the longer term and recover quickly when they feel stressed and under pressure.

Individuals can learn up to six different techniques for creating coherence and using the state proactively to enhance communication, rapport and creativity. The feedback technology enables you to move through four levels of increasing difficulty with practice. The techniques should be practiced regularly to maintain the ability to apply them when stressed as well as to build resilience and vitality in general. In short, you get out what you put in.

How can HeartMath benefit individual performance and health?

By managing the communication between our heart and brains we are able to reduce activity in the emotional centres of the brain (the limbic system, including the amygdala) and increase activity in the higher rational centres (the cortex). This means that we can optimise our mental abilities; we can think more clearly, rationally, creatively, empathically, intuitively. We can be more balanced in our decision making, more discerning of risk. We can learn more effectively and improve access to our memories, capabilities, language and numerical skills. In effect HeartMath enables high performance and emotional intelligence.

By initiating and sustaining a positive emotion we are also able to increase the amount of time our bodies are producing DHEA (a naturally occurring hormone which makes us feel great and revitalises our brains and bodies) and decrease the amount of time we are producing Cortisol (a stress hormone which makes us feel edgy and anxious and which can damage our brains and bodies).

DHEA and Cortisol are made from the same chemical building blocks, so when our bodies are producing high levels of one; they are producing low levels of the other. This means that when we are stressed we are producing high levels of Cortisol and will continue to do so until we reduce our stress. Researchers have known for over 20 years that high levels of Cortisol (and low levels of DHEA) can cause physical and mental problems and diseases. However, it is only very recently that research has begun to help us to understand what practical steps we can take to manage and prevent the damage caused by stress. HeartMath is a powerful and practical solution.

Some of the problems and diseases linked to high levels of Cortisol are as follows.
• Impaired memory and learning (Kerr et al, 1991; Sapolsky,1992)
• Decreased bone density; increased osteoporosis (Manolagas,1979)
• Reduced muscle mass (Beme,1993)
• Reduced skin growth and regeneration (Beme,1993)
• Impaired immune function (Hiemke,1994)
• Increased blood sugar (DeFeo,1989)
• Obesity and increased fat accumulation around waist and hips (Marin,1992)
• Diabetes (Nestler,1992)
• Hypertension (Shafagoj,1992)
• Heart Disease (Barrett-Connor,1986)
• Cancer (Bhatavdekar,1994)